The Choices We Make
by Silverkitsune07
Summary: What if Madara decided to attack Konoha before Naruto was born? What if Sasuke Uchiha was chosen instead to be the Kyuubi's vessel? This is the story of one choice that completely changed the shinobi world as we know it. jinchuriki Sasuke. Narusasu. AU. Yaoi. Don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. If I did own Naruto (That would be awesome!) Naruto and Sasuke would have gotten together long ago and Itachi would have never died!**

**This is my first ****Naruto**** fanfiction. So, please be nice. (Yes, I have another account. However, this one only contains Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction.) Now, on with the story!**

What if Kyuubi was never sealed inside Naruto? What if Madara decided to attack Konoha before Naruto was born? What if Naruto couldn't be the jinjuriki and someone else was chosen instead? What if the Third Hokage sealed Kyuubi and died instead of the Fourth Hokage?

So many what ifs, but what would have happened if they did happen? This is the story of would have happened if those 'what ifs' were real.

*The Choices We Make*

"You can't just disown him, Fugaku! He's your son!" Minato, the Fourth Hokage, shouted in anger and disbelief. He should have been celebrating. Kyuubi had been stopped and the village was saved. Yes, he was saddened that the former Hokage, Sarutobi, had been sacrificed to save the village, but this was the choice that he had made to save everyone he knew and cared about.

Now? He was shocked beyond belief by the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku. His youngest son, Sasuke, was used as the vessel to hold the nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi. The head of the Uchihas had refused to take back his son after the sealing and was currently disowning the young child. Minato couldn't image how a father could just leave his son just because of something like this.

Minato would have wanted his own son for the sealing instead of Sasuke, but it couldn't have been done since his wife was only seven months pregnant. The Fourth Hokage knew that Sasuke would have a long life ahead of him. He would be hated and feared by many. Pains that no one should be given will have happened to him before he would even be able to walk on his own. However, Minato had thought that Sasuke may have been saved by some of these pains by the Uchihas since they have always taken care of their own. How wrong he had been.

The Uchihas were a proud clan and they strived for perfection. Fugaku's other son, Itachi, was proof of the perfection that they strived and demanded for. Itachi had far surpassed everyone in his year and even the years ahead of him. He was the pride and glory of the Uchiha clan. However, Sasuke was now the vessel of the Kyuubi; that made him less than perfect in the eyes of the Uchihas. Maybe perfection was forever out of reach for him because anything that was even related to the Kyuubi was scum. Fugaku would have nothing of it.

"That _thing_ is not my son. My son had died as a sacrifice for the village and nothing more. My son is forever gone from the Uchihas," Fugaku replied in a monotone voice. The head of the Uchihas couldn't even look at the monster crying in the arms of the Fourth Hokage.

"What are you talking about, Fugaku? Your son is right here!" Minato held the crying baby in his arms and Fugaku turned away in disgust. The only reason that the head of the Uchihas was still in the room was because the Fourth Hokage had asked him to be there. If it was any other reason, Fugaku would have left the room that the monster was in long ago. He would stay until he was dismissed by the Fourth.

"I thought we already went over this; that thing is _not_ my son." Fugaku turned away from the shocked Hokage and the now sniffling baby. He placed his hand on the door handle and turned his head to look at Minato. "May I be dismissed, Lord Hokage?"

Minato's blue eyes fell to the ground and sadness replaced the shock that was in them. He cuddled the baby to his chest and Sasuke looked at him with his watering, coal black eyes as if saying, 'please don't leave me too.' Minato took one look at those eyes and completely melted under the stare. "You are dismissed, Fugaku."

The Uchiha bowed, "Good day, Lord Hokage." He opened the door and strode out of the room.

Minato sighed and sat down heavily into his chair behind his desk. He placed Sasuke in his lap and looked at the young child as if he was trying to figure out how to do his next mission. What could he do with Sasuke? He couldn't adopt him; it would only make him even more hated by the villagers.

Sasuke's coal black eyes drooped and closed shut. He fell asleep in Minato's lap, softly breathing in and out. Minato's blue eyes darkened in sadness and he got out of his chair. "I'm sorry, Sasuke…" and he jumped out of the window.

*The Choices We Make*

A six year old Sasuke Uchiha yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He sat up in his bed and he scanned his perfectly clean apartment. It might have been clean, but the light tan paint was peeling off the walls and cracks riddled through the room. Sasuke slid out of his bed covers and softly landed on the wooden floor. The old wooden boards groaned under his weight as he made his bed.

Nodding in approval at his perfectly made bed, Sasuke strode over to his dresser and picked out his outfit for the day. Today was his first day at the Academy and he wanted everything to be perfect. He pulled out a black, collared shirt and slid it over his head. Clean white shorts were slid on and he wrapped both his legs in white bandages. He combed his hair back into its usual duck style and approved his appearance in the cracked mirror inside his bathroom.

Sasuke was excited to get to his first day at the Academy, but he carefully hid it behind his usual mask of no emotion. This was something that Sasuke had learned when he was still very young. He had to put this mask on to show the villagers that he wasn't affected by their abuse. However, he was actually very affected by everything they did. He didn't trust anyone; he _wouldn't_ trust anyone.

He had trusted someone once. He had gotten close to him; became his friend. Sasuke had thought that he had finally found a friend that wouldn't hurt him. However, this was just a ploy to get Sasuke to trust him and send him into his a trap to kill him. It was a good thing that Kyuubi had caught on to the trap and Sasuke was able to get away.

Yes, Sasuke knew about the demon living inside him and could talk to him. No one had known that Sasuke has awakened his Sharingan long ago and, in turn, had sensed Kyuubi's presence inside him. Kyuubi was usually silent except for the occasional helping comment or teaching him a new jutsu. Sasuke had long ago started training; he had to to survive the endless abuse from the villagers.

**"You should start eating breakfast, kit. You have to be at the Academy in exactly one hour,"** a deep voice rumbled in Sasuke's head; pulling him out of his thoughts.

_Thanks, Kyuubi,_ Sasuke thought and entered his kitchen. He heard a deep chuckle from the demon and he pulled out the leftover rice patties from the fridge along with two fresh tomatoes. Sasuke sliced his two tomatoes and started to eat his breakfast. Sasuke's mind started to drift off again and, whether he knew it or not, his legs started to swing back and forth against his chair.

Who was going to be in his class at the Academy? He knew that the Hokage's son, Naruto was going to attend this year. I mean, who wouldn't know he was since he was always proclaiming that he was going to be an even better ninja than this father one day and he was going to start school in nth years. Sasuke had walked past the loud-mouthed child several times at the market and Naruto always seemed to be surrounded by his admirers. However, for the life of him, Sasuke couldn't remember anyone else in his grade. He vaguely remembered a dog-like boy always talking with the blond and two girls, one blond and one pink haired, fighting over Naruto's affections.

Despite himself, Sasuke shivered. He may not even remotely like the blond, but Sasuke had to feel bad for Naruto with all his fangirls. They truly were the worst species known to man, _especially_ when angered. A fight had broken out at the market that day between the blond and pink haired girls and when dog-boy tried to break it up he had instead gotten the wrath of the girls. The dog-boy was beaten to a pulp and the girls had acted like they had done nothing wrong and continued to flirt with Naruto. Sasuke had continued on with his walk but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

It could have been the person who spied on him from time to time. He or she would watch him for an hour or so and then leave. Sasuke had ignored this person and continued on like any other day except that he put on his usual mask of being emotionless and weak even during his private time. Sasuke wasn't, per say, scared of this person, but he was just cautious. He or she hadn't attacked him in anyway yet and he shouldn't hold a grudge against the spy unless something happened.

**"You're going to be late if you don't hurry kit."**

_Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it you stupid fox._ Sasuke got up from his seat and cursed when one of the legs fell off again. Great, another thing he had to fix later. Sasuke placed his dirty dishes in the sink and went to his front door. He slipped on his old, black sandals and walked out of his apartment. Sasuke closed his door and locked it with his key.

Sasuke shoved his hands into the pockets of his white shorts and walked down the staircase leading to his apartment. Halfway to the Academy the feeling of being watched returned to Sasuke's body. He would have thought it was his usual spy if it weren't for the obvious way that the other couldn't hide his chakra very well.

He ignored the clearly seen way that someone was using a sheet to hide against the fence he was walking by and allowed the other to sneak up behind him. Sasuke had figured out right away that his little stalker was none other than Naruto Namikaze. Why he was following him, Sasuke could only guess.

The raven felt Naruto come up from behind him and Sasuke acted surprised and jumped when the blond suddenly jumped him. They fell to the ground and Sasuke allowed the blond to pin his arms above him head. "Ha! I got you! Another win for Naruto Namikaze! Once I get everyone else I'll be the greatest ninja ever! Believe it!"

Great, not only did I have to get tackled to the ground, but now he's giving me a migraine. I really hate this guy. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and pushed Naruto off him. The blond gave a small 'oof' as he fell to the ground and the raven got up. Sasuke brushed off the dirt he gained from the ground and Naruto jumped up and gave him a stink eye. "That would only make you the best ninja in our class, dope. You still have to beat everyone else in the village and beyond to accomplish your goal."

Naruto pouted and crossed his arms across his chest. "You really are a teme like everyone says you are." A mischievous glint formed in Naruto's blue eyes. "But I still beat you, teme! So you can't act so high and mighty anymore!"

He was tempted; he was so tempted to show just how wrong the blond was. However, the years of abuse, pain, blood and scars prevented him from doing so. He had to keep the image of being weak and helpless or else the villagers would be back with full force. Sasuke sighed and stuck his hands back into his pockets. Then, without another word, left Naruto where he was standing.

"Oi! You can't just leave me, teme!" Sasuke ignored the annoying blond and continued walking. He had ten minutes to get to the Academy and he wasn't about to let Naruto make him late on his first day. "Oi! Are you even listening to me, teme? You can't treat the son of the Hokage this way!" Naruto ran back up to the raven and forced Sasuke to face him.

Sasuke knocked the hands away and glared at the blond. "Just because you're the son of the Hokage doesn't mean you get to have special treatment, dope. If you want to beat your father like you always said you would than stop using him to get ahead." Coal black eyes meet bright blue ones. "If you always use the Hokage to help you, you will always be dependent on him, dope."

The raven turned around and continued on his merry way. Naruto's eyes darkened slightly, "Maybe that's why you don't have any friends!" He shouted, "Because I sure wouldn't want to be friends with such a teme!"

They both walked to the Academy; both of them taking different routes. However, the whole way there, both of them replayed the other's words over and over in their heads.

*The Choices We Make*

Sasuke had made it just in time for class that day. He looked around the crowded classroom and scanned each of his classmates' faces. Dog-boy was talking to a very timid looking female Hyuga. She seemed to stutter with each word and dog-boy had to lean to hear her. However, this move seemed to only make it harder for the girl to speak and a small flush formed on her face as well.

The blond haired fangirl was arguing with the pink haired fangirl and with the way they were acting it was about Naruto again. A… larger looking boy was munching on a bag of BBQ chips at one of the desks and another boy with pineapple like hair sat next to him muttering how troublesome the crunching of the chips was.

"Are you just going to stand there all day or are you going to go in?" Sasuke glanced to his left and found a dark haired boy with a very high collared shirt. He wore circular shades and bugs seemed to be buzzing around his head and crawling up his body. Sasuke repressed a shiver at the sight of the bugs crawling on the other's body. The way the other just seemed to pop out of nowhere and had bugs all over him creeped Sasuke out.

Sasuke walked in and made sure to stay as far away as he could from the bug-boy. He took a seat at the very back so he could see everything and he would be hidden by everyone unless they looked back. This worked to Sasuke's advantage; if someone randomly did look back at him he knew that they must not be up to anything good and it would, most likely, be about him.

The bell rang through the classroom moments later and Sasuke had yet to see their Sensei and Naruto. Sasuke furrowed his face together. It didn't make any sense; Naruto had left the same time as him and he seemed to be very determined to beat everyone in the classroom. He should have been here already.

Sasuke shook his head to clear his thoughts away. Why was he so concerned about the dope? He was just some annoying kid who got everything handed to him on a silver platter. So… why was there a nagging feeling in his chest that something wasn't quite right?

The raven hadn't elaborated any further on the missing Naruto as his new sensei slid the door open and stepped inside. "Settle down everyone! I'm going to take roll call!" The mummer of voices slowly settled down; the only noise left was the crunching of chips being eaten by his classmate. Their new sensei walked up to the chalkboard and picked up a piece of white chalk. "My name is Iruka Umino, but you can just call me Iruka-sensei." To prove his point, their new sensei wrote his name largely on the board.

He placed the chalk back on its holder and clapped his hands together to get rid of any extra chalk dust. "Now for roll call. When I call your name give a simple 'here' for me."

"Hai!" The entire class calls out in recognition and Iruka picked up his student list. He walked in front of his desk and scanned the first name on the list.

If anyone had bothered to notice, Sasuke had slightly leaned forward in his chair. He knew all the clans in the village he wanted to evaluate his classmates. Was there someone from the Nara clan? Was there another Uchiha in here? Sasuke greatly doubted that considering none of them looked like one. Uchiha tended to have dark eyes and hair; as well as porcelain white skin.

"Shino Aburame!"

"Here," said the bug guy from before. Sasuke nodded in understanding. Why hadn't he seen it before? The Aburame clan was famous for dealing with different types of bugs. So much so that they even allowed the bugs to live inside them. Sasuke then had to stop himself from imagining them crawling around Shino's insides.

"Choji Akimichi!"

"Here!" called the larger boy with chips stuffed in his mouth. Another understanding. The Akimichi clan used up a lot of stamina in their attacks and constantly needed to eat to keep up that stamina.

"Sakura Haruno!"

"Here!" Finally! The pink haired fangirl finally had a name attached! Now he could actually say the girl's name instead of 'pink haired fangirl.' Now… just the blond one and I can stop with these ridiculous nicknames.

"Hinata Hyuga!"

"He-here!" So I was right; she is part of the Hyuga clan. But aren't they just as proud as the Uchiha clan? So what is up with that stutter? I highly doubt that this girl will make it as a ninja if she keeps acting this way.

"Kiba Inuzuka!"

"Here!" Inuzuka, huh? He does have the dog-like features that one of the Inuzuka clan has. But I thought they all had a ninja dog with them? I must look into this… especially since he seems to be the dope's best friend.

"Shikamaru Nara!"

"Here… Man this is so troublesome…" A Nara this time. I need to watch out for this one. He does seem to act like he would want nothing but to stare at the clouds all day. However, the Nara clan is known for their quick-wit and strategies.

Iruka seemed to pause on the next name on the list and Sasuke couldn't help that his frown turned into a scowl. He had seen that look before; whatever had caused their sensei to pause had something to do with him. Sasuke got ready for the worst.

"Sasuke… Uchiha." Iruka's black eyes locked on his own and whispers started throughout the room. Sasuke Uchiha? The one that their parents considered a demon? What was he doing here?

"Here," and as soon as he said it all heads turned in his direction. Everyone wanted to see what the so call 'demon' looked like. Sasuke clenched his fists in an attempt to keep his emotionless mask on. It seemed to work and the heads started to turn back towards the front. Whispers of, 'That's Sasuke Uchiha? He doesn't seem that scary; I can take him on anytime,' reached Sasuke's ears.

He would show them; he would show all of them. But first he had to keep his weak image and just barely pass the Academy. Then, they would all know never to mess with Sasuke Uchiha again.

When the class finally settled down, Iruka cleared his throat. "Naruto Namikaze!" Silence. "Naruto Namikaze!" Still, nothing. Sasuke sighed; he knew this was going to happen. The whispers started up again, but this time is was where the famous son of the Hokage was.

This time Iruka sighed and was just about to mark Naruto absent when a large crash sounded in front and to the left of Sasuke. The girls in the class screamed in fright and Sasuke could feel another migraine coming on when he saw a flash of yellow hair. Naruto landed at the front of the classroom and gave everyone a thumbs up and a flashing grin. "Naruto Namikaze is here! Believe it!"

Yup, defiantly a migraine. Sasuke started to massage his temples in an attempt to relieve some of the pain in his head. Why did the dope always have to make a show of himself? It was just plainly not necessary; he already got everyone's attention as soon as he walked by. Better get ready to see Naruto get praised instead of punished for this. If he had done what Naruto just did, he would have been given a month of detention. Maybe even thrown out of the Academy; Sasuke knew that they would now find any chance to get him thrown out of here.

"Naruto…" Sasuke perked up at the deathly quiet voice of their sensei; would Naruto actually get punished for this?

Naruto's smile was turned down a notch, "Yes, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka takes a deep breath and, "If you _ever_ do something like that again, Naruto, I won't hesitate to give you a week's detention!" Everyone was suddenly deathly quiet; even Choji had stopped munching his chips. Iruka sighed and started to talk normally again. "Do you get what I'm saying, Naruto?"

"But-" Naruto started to protest.

"No buts, Naruto! Now go sit down or I'll give you the week's detention right now!" Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically and scurried over to find a seat. He sat down in between Sakura and Blondie, much to their satisfaction, and pouted in his chair.

Sasuke smirked and leaned back in his own chair. Maybe Iruka-sensei wasn't that bad. Yeah, he acted like the other villagers but he also wouldn't let Naruto get away with things. Iruka-sensei may not have given him a punishment this time but, Sasuke coal eyes glittered slightly, Naruto would be punished next time. The raven didn't know why he wanted the blond to be punished so badly but it had to do something with the other _never_ getting punished.

**"Not to mention that you're always the one being punished."**

_Kyuubi! What did I tell you about listening in on my thoughts?!_

**"What?! It's boring in here; I have nothing better to do!"**

_Then you shouldn't have let Madara control you like that and none of this would have happened!_ Sasuke heard Kyuubi growl inside his head and felt the demon leave his mind. The raven let out an inaudible sigh and listened back in on Iruka-sensei.

"Ino Yamanaka!"

"Here!" Now Naruto's other fangirl has a name. She's from the Yamanaka clan and can use different kinds of mind jutsu. I _really_ need to stay away from her; it wouldn't go down well if she heard Kyuubi inside my head. It was a good thing she is always stuck like glue to Naruto's side.

Iruka-sensei was finally done with his roll call and everyone was now moving on to their first lesson. In truth, Iruka-sensei had called out more people than the nine that were mentioned but Sasuke didn't bother to remember these names. They were practically nobodies.

Iruka-sensei called for everyone to open their textbooks to the first page so they could get started. Sasuke reached back and took out his obviously second hand copy of the ninja handbook and turned to the first page. Sasuke had already read the entire book multiple times, but he had to open it up anyway so he wouldn't get in trouble for not listening to his sensei's order.

"Alright, now can someone answer me what would consider you worse than scum in the shinobi world?" Iruka-sensei scanned the faces of all his students and stopped on Sasuke's. The raven glared at the adult as if daring him to call on him. Iruka-sensei turned away at the last moment and fixed his black eyes on Sakura. "Miss Haruno, could you please give us the answer?"

"I know this one! You're considered worse than scum when you abandon a mission or direct order by a superior!" Sakura looked to her left to see if her crush had seen how smart she had been and frowned when she saw that Naruto was still pouting in his seat.

Iruka-sensei nodded, "Yes, you would be considered scum if you did that but I was looking for something else." Sasuke furrowed his face; what else could it have been? It said right on the first page of the textbook that she was right in her answer.

Sakura raised her hand in confusion. "But, Iruka-sensei, it says right here that I had the right answer."

He nodded, "Yes, you were right but there is something else that would make you scum." He waited for anyone to raise their hand with the right answer. When Iruka saw that no one knew the answer, he sighed. "If you abandon a friend in the middle of a mission, then you are seen as scum and no one will ever want to work with you on missions again."

Friends, huh? Well, it was a good thing he didn't have one and probably never would. The rest of Sasuke's first day at the Academy continued on without any more unusual acts. However, the raven wished he could say the same thing about the rest of his Academy years.

**Yay! First chapter done! If anyone is interested, this is the longest chapter I have ever written! XD Don't worry, I know the first chapter is kind of dull, but it will get better! I promise!**

**Read and Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. If I did own Naruto (That would be awesome!) Naruto and Sasuke would have gotten together long ago and Itachi would have never died!**

The now eight year old Sasuke growled in frustration and the three tomoe in his Sharingan eyes spun around in anger. Sasuke slumped down on the wooden dock and gasped in the fresh air. His Sharingan faded from his eyes; returning them back into their normal coal black coloring. Why wouldn't it work? All Uchiha learned the fireball jutsu with flying colors, but why couldn't he?

** "Maybe the great Sasuke Uchiha has finally run out of juice,"** Sasuke heard Kyuubi let out a deep chuckle.

_Not helping, Kyuubi._ Why couldn't the demon ever give him advice instead of the constant teasing? He had enough annoyances from Naruto; he didn't need it from inside his head as well.

**"Calm down, kit. You've been training all day; you're exhausted. Besides this is only your first day of your fire ball jutsu training, give it time. I suggest you go home and get some rest. I don't even think the great Itachi Uchiha learned it on his first day."**

Sasuke sighed; _You and I both know that Itachi got it on his first try, Kyuubi._

**"Yeah, but he wasn't training all day like you were. How many times did you do the Shadow Clone jutsu and the Lion's Barrage?"**

_I know, but I need to get stronger._

**"Kit, if you could, you would already be a genin. Don't push yourself so hard or it could actually make you a worse shinobi, not better."**

_I know that, Kyuubi! How could I forget when you say that every time I train?_

**"I only say it every time because you always do this! Why did I get stuck inside such a brat?"**

_Just stuff it, Kyuubi. I don't need your whining right now._ Sasuke got back up only to fall back down on the dock. The raven lifted up his hand and saw that it was shaking. Maybe he should take Kyuubi's advice and lay of the harsh training for a while. Sasuke peeled off his black sandals and flung his legs over the side of the dock. His feet dipped into the cool water and Sasuke slowly swung his scar riddled feet back and forth.

Sasuke's face darkened as a flashback of when a drunken villager had thrown him feet first into a fire pit when he was about four years old. The pain had been unbearable and Sasuke had been forced to crawl all the way home. Of course Kyuubi had healed his feet as fast as he could, but the raven was still bedridden for about three days.

"Oi! Teme!" Sasuke jerked up in actual surprise this time. Had he really been that deep into his thoughts that the dope was able to sneak up on him like that? Sasuke's eyes widened; or was the dope getting better than him? No; no way. He was just tired, that's all.

Sasuke swiveled his head around and found Naruto at the edge of the dock. Sasuke narrowed his eyes; something wasn't right about this picture. There was the spikey yellow hair, bright blue eyes, orange jumpsuit and breathtaking smile, but what was still missing? "Where's your usual group of admirers, dope?"

Naruto's bright smile wavered and his blue eyes met the ground. "They're not my friends; not really." Sasuke's eyebrow raised; what did the dope mean by that? "They're not really my friends; they only like me because I'm the son of the Hokage…" Sasuke was beyond shocked. Here was Naruto Namikaze, the boy who got everything Sasuke ever wanted and he was _complaining_ about it. Pure anger raged through Sasuke's body; how dare the dope act like this! However, Sasuke hide the anger behind his usual mask of no emotion. He couldn't show his true strength yet; it would just get him killed. He had to control himself even though the blond had just pushed all the right buttons.

"Go away, dope. I'm busy." Sasuke turned back around and stared across the lake. It was a beautiful sight. The setting sun hit the calm water just right and the water glittered in an amazing view of bright pinks, purples and blues. Sasuke heard Naruto take in a deep breath and got ready for the blond to let out his usual rant. He would probably say the usual 'You can't order me around, teme!' and then he would top it off with-

"That's why I want your friendship more than anyone else." Wait; hold up. He had not just heard the famous, loudmouthed Naruto Namikaze say that… did he? Sasuke turned his head back around and found an unusual sight. Naruto, instead of his bright smile, had a slight frown on his face and Sasuke could obviously see a certain seriousness surrounding the blond. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and repressed the urge to awaken his Sharingan. The blond was up to something and he wouldn't fall for it.

"Why would you want my friendship, dope?" He would play along for a while. Maybe he could find out what the dope was playing at. Did the blond want to do what his other so called 'friend' wanted to do? Finish the other's work? Did the dope have some other reason? Like using him as a training dummy? But, why would he do that? Sasuke could think of a lot of other people who would love to be in that position. However, Sasuke wouldn't let himself get turned into some kind of personal punching bag for the blond.

Naruto noticed the slightly guarded look that Sasuke had on his face and laughed. "That's why I want you as my friend. You don't like me; not one bit. You're not like everyone else who loves me only because the Fourth Hokage is my father. If I got your friendship, it would be a real one." He saw Sasuke narrow his eyes even farther and saw the other's black eyes flash red. However, Naruto passed it off as nothing. Sasuke was only eight years old and the worst student, by far, in the Academy; he _couldn't_ have awakened his Sharingan yet.

"Hn," Sasuke didn't know what else to say. Naruto may be loudmouthed, annoying and spoiled, but he wasn't one to lie. However, Sasuke couldn't wrap his mind around as to why Naruto would want his friendship; _his_ friendship above everyone else's. "What do you want, dope?"

Naruto's usual grin returned, "Maybe you're the dope here, teme. I said, I want you as my friend." Naruto turned sheepish and he brought one of his hands up to rub the back of his head. "Or maybe you're just hard of hearing. That would explain why you can't answer any of Iruka-sensei's questions even after he had just given us the answer."

Maybe acting like that in class _was_ a bit much, but Sasuke had to keep up his act as long as he could. "Whatever, I don't have to explain myself to you, dope. Now, go away."

"Come on, Sasuke! Don't be that way! Why do you hate me so much; what did I ever do to you?" Naruto exclaimed. He strode down the dock and took a seat next to the other male. "Just give me a chance, Sasuke."

Coal black eyes meet bright blue ones. Sasuke couldn't figure out the blond. Why was Naruto suddenly acting like this? Did the _dope_ of all people have a plan to get him killed? Or did Naruto actually mean what he was saying? Did one of the most loved people in Konoha actually want to be his friend?

"Why?" Sasuke's eyes widened. Did he actually just say that? How could he let something like that slip? He had never heard his voice sound so desperate and so… _pathetic._ How did Naruto, of all people, break his carefully made mask? He had noticed that Naruto did something to him that no other person had ever done before. Most days he went without saying one word. However, when Naruto was involved Sasuke noticed that he spoke more and more. The blond had that unwanted effect on him.

"Why? Sasuke, does someone need a reason to become someone's friend." It wasn't a question; it was statement. Sasuke looked away and instead watched the sun slowly set across the lake. Naruto had no idea about anything. Someone _always_ had a reason for every action they made. _Just like now_, Sasuke mused.

"Just leave me alone, dope. I don't want your so call 'friendship'." Sasuke got up from his seat on the edge of the dock and walked back down the wooden boardwalk. If Sasuke had bothered to look back he would have found Naruto giving him a look of pure sadness and pity.

*The Choices We Make*

The next day, a Sunday, Sasuke walked into his favorite training grounds totally refreshed from the day before. The reason Sasuke enjoyed this training ground above all others was that it was almost completely abandoned. _Almost_; except for the frequent Uchiha visitor. The training grounds had several old and beaten up training dummies. They were covered by overgrown weeds and Sasuke tended to stir away from them unless he absolutely needed to use them.

The Konoha forest hid the grounds from any and all unwanted eyes of the villagers and a small river was stationed on the other side of the clearing. Sasuke nodded in approval when he saw the training grounds undisturbed since his last visit and tightened the bandages on his legs, arms and hands. Today he was going to take it easy and practice on his taijutsu.

_Any tips on training today, Kyuubi?_ Sasuke asked his demon companion. Sometimes Kyuubi had some amazing pointers on how to get better at his training. One time the demon, after noticing that he had several cuts and bruises from hitting one of the training dummies at fifty miles per hour, had suggested wrapping bandages around the hurt appendages to help reduce the damage. Ever since that day the suggestion had been so helpful that he never left his apartment without wrapping bandages around his legs, arms and hands.

**"Yeah, don't run face first into a tree."** Sasuke's face flushed slightly. He hadn't actually done that, but he once came dangerously close to doing it after one of his first attempts of practicing how to hit an opponent with taijutsu.

Sasuke shook his head, _Thanks for the advice, Kyuubi. I'm sure that it will be very helpful with my training today._

He heard the demon chuckle and rolled his eyes. **"I'm full of helpful advice; you just choose to not listen to them."**

He ignored the demon and walked over to the training dummy at the edge of the grounds. This one was obviously used and had seen way more abuse than the others. There were no weeds covering it and there was a reason for it. Sasuke had to save what little training supplies he had in his one and only training grounds. The raven used the surrounding trees for his more powerful attacks instead of the dummies like other shinobi did.

Sasuke suddenly felt eyes on his form and a subtle chakra signature in the trees to his right side. His stride slightly hesitated and he changed his destination from the training dummy to one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. Looks like Kyuubi got his wish of him taking a break from training since he now had to act like the weak ninja everyone thought he was.

He walked up to the chosen tree and took out a small bit of white chalk. He used the chalk and created four circles lined up perfectly down the trunk. Sasuke took a step back and nodded in approval of all four perfectly lined up. Instead of taijutsu training today, since he wasn't technically supposed to know it yet, he was going to practice weapons training instead.

Sasuke placed the chalk back into its place in his pocket and took out four metal shuriken out of his weapons pouch. He aimed the first an inch above the first chalk circle and threw it. It landed right where he wanted it to and aimed the next shuriken to the right of the second circle. Sasuke focused on the chakra signature and mused that he could barely feel the other's presence. His watcher was his usual spy and he definitely wasn't the dope or even a genin for that matter. This person was of jounin level or maybe even higher.

Sasuke's eyes slightly widened when he suddenly felt his spy's presence suddenly behind him. However, he kept his cool and threw his third shuriken on the line between the third and fourth circle. "Sasuke." Said raven faked his shock and let his fourth and final shuriken fly past his chosen tree. He spun around and when he let shock overtake his body this time it was real. Before him stood his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, dressed in his ANBU uniform save for his animal mask.

"What do you want, Itachi?" Of course he had heard of his older brother, Itachi. I mean, how could he not when Itachi was the pride of the Uchiha clan while he was completely and utterly hated by them?

"What are you doing, Sasuke?" Itachi droned on in his monotone voice of his. "I know that you're holding yourself back." How did Itachi know? Sasuke knew that his older brother was good, but how did he know that Sasuke was acting all this time? So, Sasuke decided to continue on with what he knew.

"What are you talking about, Itachi? Don't mock me; not everyone can be like the great Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke narrowed his eyes and let anger take over his body. He crossed his arms across his chest and glared into Itachi's eyes that were so much like his own.

"Don't act stupid, Sasuke. I know you're not using your full potential." Itachi's monotone voice was really starting to get on Sasuke's nerves. "No Uchiha, not even one that is disowned, is as bad as you're making yourself out to be. Besides," Itachi narrowed his eyes, "I saw the slight hesitation in your step when I showed up here. You sensed my presence."

Alright, so maybe Itachi did know and it seemed that his older brother wasn't about to give up on it either. Sasuke opened up his stance but tensed up and placed his hand over his weapons pouch. "Alright, so you do know. But what do you want?"

"I want to train you." Why would Itachi, of all people, want to train him? He hadn't even met the guy before this; so why would he feel so compelled to do something like this? "Not everyone needs to have a reason to help somebody, Sasuke." Damn, now he was sounding like Naruto. What was he going to do next? Say that he still thought of him as his little brother? Yeah, right; Itachi hated him just like the rest of the Uchiha did.

"Quit the bullshit, Itachi. I've had enough plans to kill me from the Uchihas that I won't just trust you right away." He wouldn't allow himself to trust another person again; _especially_ if that person was an Uchiha. There were only two people in the world that he could trust, Kyuubi and himself. No one else; he wouldn't ever let another person in. They would only hurt him just like so many before had done.

Itachi nodded in understanding, "I have heard of those plots, but if the Uchiha really wanted you dead… you already would be." Sasuke felt pressure behind his eyes and he had to repress the urge to activate his Sharingan. However, Sasuke's eyes flashed red and Itachi caught the split second that Sasuke had accidently activated his Sharingan. "I see you have activated your Sharingan." Itachi narrowed his eyes and his own Sharingan flashed. "Did anything _unusual _happen when they did?"

"We have barely known each other for five minutes, Itachi. You have no right to butt into my life." This time, Sasuke allowed his eyes to bleed red and the three tomoe spun like pinwheels inside them. "Now, leave me alone." Sasuke then turned around and jumped into the trees. The green forest flew past Sasuke at amazing speeds and he felt Kyuubi's presence return back into his head.

**"You sure that was a good idea, kit? Oh and you might want to slow down since you'll hit the village pretty soon. You don't want the villagers to know yet even though you've just been found out by someone." **Taking Kyuubi's advice, Sasuke slowed down and stopped on top of a tree branch on the outskirts of the village.

He leaned against the tree and watched life go on in the village. It looked so much different than what he was used to. Whenever Sasuke walked through the streets all he saw was the anger and hatred that was directed towards him. Without him it looked peaceful and happy. Children ran through the streets laughing and playing. Young couples held hands and whispered sweet nothings to each other as they walked down the streets. The village was something that was untouchable and was only given to everyone but himself.

Okay, so maybe he did want Itachi to help him train, but how could he trust him? Itachi was the next head of the Uchiha clan; the same clan who had disowned him when he was only a couple hours old. _I don't know what to do anymore, Kyuubi. When did my life get so confusing? First, Naruto practically begged me to become his friend and now Itachi Uchiha wants to train me. What should I do?_

Sasuke heard Kyuubi sigh and sat down on the branch. **"Get back home, kit. We need to have a 'talk'." **Sasuke nodded in agreement and slid off the tree branch. He hit the ground without a sound and walked down the path leading into the village. His inaudible steps turned into soft thumps the nearer he got to the village and he let his chakra go down to almost nonexistent. Sasuke entered the village and the happy, peaceful feeling he had seen from the forest had disappeared with his appearance. He ignored the heated looks from the villagers in a way that only came from years of previous practice.

He reached his apartment building and unlocked the door. Sasuke headed straight for his bedroom and slumped down on his bed. He and Kyuubi had one other 'talk' before and it was on his couch in his living room. He was never going to make that mistake again. He had woken up after the 'talk' with Kyuubi with his head on the coffee table and a large blue bruise on his forehead. The demon had teased him about it for weeks.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the foreign chakra in his stomach and let it take over his mind. Kyuubi's red chakra traveled slowly through his body until it reached the desired location on his forehead. Sasuke let the red chakra lull him to sleep and when he next opened his eyes he was standing in front of a large cage containing Kyuubi. Sasuke stood in ankle deep water and he waded through it until he reached the front of the cage.

Kyuubi laid on the ground inside his large cage and his nine tails swished behind him. Red chakra hovered and twirled around his body and the demon motioned with his head to sit down. **"Sit down, kit. We have a lot we need to talk about." **Sasuke cringed but sat down in the murky water anyway. His shorts were instantly soaked and Sasuke ignored the urge to get back up.

"What's wrong, Kyuubi? We never do this; so why do it now?" Yeah, he needed advice on his life right now, but that could have easily been done in his own head. So… why did Kyuubi want to do this?

The demon sighed and rested his large head on his front paws. **"I think you should trust those two. I didn't feel any malice from them; they really did want to help you, kit. You can't let the only person you trust be a demon." **Kyuubi got up, twirled in place and settled back down on the same place he was before. **"Sometimes you have to take chances, kit."**

Sudden rejection built up in his throat, but Sasuke stopped it short. Kyuubi had never driven him wrong; he had to think over the demon's suggestion before giving his opinion. Could he handle another made up friendship? Could he handle trusting another person only to have them stab him in the back? Probably not; he would actually be the one to give them the knife that would kill him. However, Kyuubi had said that he felt no malice from either one of them; maybe he could give them a chance. _Maybe_ being the key word in the sentence.

"You really think this is a good idea?" Sasuke looked into the demon's red eyes for confirmation. Kyuubi narrowed his eyes and studied Sasuke to see if it was some kind of test. He knew the kit had major trust issues, but Sasuke needed a _human_ friend, not a demon companion.

**"Kit, just give them a chance; I would never let something happen to you."** The large demon fox let out a deep chuckle. **"Because of something happens to you, something happens to me and we don't want that, do we?"**

Despite the situation, Sasuke let out a chuckle of his own. "Alright, I might give them a chance if it means so much to you." Sasuke might be afraid of more backstabbing in his life, but he was like every other human being out there. He got lonely and desired attention. Sasuke may have hid this need all his life, but he still wanted and needed it.

Sasuke would have never admitted it, but sometimes he dreamed of how his life would have been without Kyuubi sealed inside his body. He would have had a mother and father that took care of him when he was sick. He would have had an elder brother who played with him when he was lonely. The villagers would have looked at him like they did with Itachi instead of hate. He would have been the youngest son of the head of the Uchiha clan; he would have been loved by everyone around him.

And yet, Sasuke couldn't help but think that the villagers had made him stronger than he would have been in a comforting home. He wouldn't have awoken his Sharingan at age four. He wouldn't have gotten a thousands of years old demon as a sensei. He wouldn't have gotten as strong as he was now since he had to get stronger to stay alive, not to hold up an image as the son of the head of the Uchiha clan.

"Alright, I'll do it… tomorrow." Sasuke let his Sharingan fade from his eyes and he reopened his eyes and peered around his darkened room. He always felt weakened after doing those 'talks' with Kyuubi and time moved slower inside his head as well; much like it did when you are sleeping. Sasuke heard his stomach rumble and realized that he hadn't eaten since that morning. The raven got up from his bed and moved towards his kitchen. Sasuke opened his fridge and saw a couple tomatoes, cheese and left over rice in it. He sighed; looked like he would have to make a trip to the market tomorrow. That was never fun considering that the venders would only give him spoiled or rotten food. Most of the time he disguised himself as a random, traveling merchant and that was the only way he would actually get real food. As long as he didn't meet anyone over chunin rank he would be fine.

Sasuke took out three bright red tomatoes and the slab of parmesan cheese. He grabbed the smallest knife in his holder and a cheese grader inside the overhead cabinet. Sasuke cursed when the door fell off the hinges and cursed again when the damn leg fell off his chair again. Why couldn't his life ever be easy?

He then proceeded to cut the tomatoes into small, bite sized pieces and shredded the cheese. Sasuke sprinkled the cheese over his cut tomatoes and took a washed fork out of the sink. The raven strode into his living room and flopped down on his ripped up couch. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. He had to fix his cabinet and chair. Then, he would have to take a trip to the market and make sure he wouldn't get caught by a higher ranked ninja. Once those were all over, he would then have to somehow tell Naruto and Itachi that he agreed to the training and friendship without stroking their egos in the process. Man, his life was so troublesome. Sasuke cringed; _Great, now I sound like Shikamaru,_ he mused.

Sasuke heard a knock at his front door and tensed up. _No one_ came to see him, especially at this hour. He got up from his seat and placed his plate on his coffee table without so much as a sound. He strode over to the front door and placed his hand on the dented knob. Sasuke took a deep breath and opened the door… and saw nothing. Had he taken too long to answer the door? Was it-

"**Kit!"** Sasuke felt a sudden searing pain in his head and his vision went completely black.

*The Choices We Make*

"Why do you keep letting the villagers treat Sasuke the way they do?" Itachi asked and slammed his hands down on the Fourth Hokage's desk.

Minato jumped up from his seat and slammed his hands down on his desk as well. "I try, Itachi! I really do! Every person that hurts Sasuke in any way is punished, but I can't get all of them!" Minato and Itachi lock eyes and they start to stare each other down. "I know you care about him, Itachi. But what do you want me to do?"

"You could have adopted him," Itachi pointed out.

Minato sighed and dropped back down in his chair. Itachi placed his arms back at his sides and took a step back from the wooden desk. "You know I couldn't have done that, Itachi. The villagers would have thought that the Kyuubi was manipulating me." Minato had always regretted his decision of not adopting Sasuke. He knew the hardships the boy had been through, but he couldn't just give out punishments to everybody, he had to make sure he was getting the right people. Minato sighed again; even Naruto had asked why people were giving Sasuke such heated looks. He massaged his face and found it scrunched up. Minato had noticed himself doing this more often… he was probably going to get wrinkles pretty soon.

"I want to train Sasuke, but he doesn't trust me." Minato nodded; what was Itachi getting at? "But maybe he'll trust the Hokage."

Minato felt his face scrunch up again; great, forget about soon he'll probably have wrinkles by tomorrow. "Itachi I-" The door to Minato's office suddenly bursts open and Kakashi strides in.

"We have an emergency, sensei," Kakashi says and acknowledges Itachi in the room by giving him a slight nod. Kakashi then locked eyes with his sensei and Minato got up from his chair and leaned on his desk with his hands.

"What's happening, Kakashi?"

The silver haired shinobi narrowed his only visible eye and glanced at Itachi. "It's the Uchiha, sensei. They have captured Sasuke Uchiha and are planning to break the seal." Only with his many years of being a shinobi was Minato able to catch the slight widening of Itachi's eyes. Minato had known about the Uchiha's plan of taking over Konoha, but Itachi was never able to get enough information on what exactly they were planning to do.

"Any idea on where the Uchiha are?" Minato asked his pupil.

Kakashi glanced back at Itachi, "Are you sure it's okay to say with an Uchiha in the room?" Minato nodded and motioned for the silver haired shinobi to continue. "The ANBU black ops have found out that they are stationed at the old sealing grounds."

Minato nodded, "Kakashi, assemble all available shinobi and meet at the sealing grounds." The Fourth Hokage slipped on his robes and heard the small poof of his pupil leaving to do as ordered. "Itachi," the young Uchiha had already placed his raven mask on, "You're coming with me. The other shinobi are going to act as back up, but I want this wrapped up before they get there." Minato and Itachi lock eyes, "Less stress on Sasuke." Itachi nods in agreement and they jump out the windows of the Hokage's office. Before leaving Minato caught a glance of what he looked like in the reflective surface. Was that what he thought he saw? Forget about tomorrow, he already had wrinkles.

*The Choices We Make*

"**Kit, you have to wake up!"** Sasuke's head was pounding and when he tried to reach up to rub away some of the discomfort he found that he couldn't. Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and heard the sounds of fighting off in the distance. The large full moon illuminated everything around him and he saw he had been placed lying down in a large clearing surrounded by trees. Sasuke tugged his arms and legs and found them bound by blue chakra binds. He shivered and discovered that his shirt had been taken off. Sasuke activated his Sharingan so he could see things more clearly and saw a sealing diagram had been drawn on his stomach in blood. The raven then took a look around the clearing and saw that a larger version of the diagram had been burned into the ground.

Sasuke sighed and deactivated his Sharingan. The back of his head was very sticky and Sasuke would have bet his apartment that he now had a large wound from where he had been struck. How could he have been so stupid? No one ever visited him; he should have seen that it was anything but good. Now, the question was who would want to do something like this? He hadn't been attacked in a long time and that was because every person who had tried to hurt him had underestimated him. By the time that his would be attackers had gotten to where he was Sasuke had already slyly evaded them. The person who had attacked him had not underestimated him; they had used tactics as if he was a dangerous, high ranked ninja.

_Any ideas on what's happening or what they want, Kyuubi?_ Sasuke felt searing pain in his head and knew that his message didn't get through. Ignoring the pain, Sasuke relayed the message. Whatever his attacker had done he had done a lot of damage to his head and had muffled his connection to the demon.

"**It's the Uchihas; they're trying to break the seal, kit. When I'm released they plan to use their Sharingans to control me." **Sasuke winced at the pain in his head when Kyuubi answered back. So it was the Uchihas who had captured him, but for what purpose? The demon had told him they wanted to control Kyuubi, but why would they want to? Nothing made sense to him anymore.

A large explosion happened in the distance and Sasuke winced again when the huge shockwave reached him. So there was definitely a battle happening a little ways away and he was tied up in the middle of some unsealing jutsu. However, who were the people fighting? The Uchiha had to be one of them considering that none of them were at the clearing, but who else? Were the Uchiha having a fallout on who would control Kyuubi? Had Konoha found out about them planning on releasing Kyuubi and went to stop them? Or was it something else entirely? Oh man, his head hurt too much to even think.

"**Then stop focusing on why you got into this mess and instead try to find a way to get out of it."**

_Damn it, Kyuubi! My head hurts enough without you talking to me!_ Sasuke felt the demon retreat further into his consciousness and the pain in his head went from searing pain to a dull ache where he was hit. However, why did the pain get reduced when Kyuubi went away? The Diagram! The diagram was what was causing the pain of being connected to Kyuubi because its whole purpose was to separate them! If he could just somehow smug the blood on his stomach, even just a little, he would be able to use Kyuubi's chakra to break the chakra bonds on his wrists and ankles.

Now, how was he going to smug the blood on his stomach? He couldn't form any hand signs with both his wrist tied down. His weapons had obviously been removed. He couldn't ask Kyuubi for help; the pain would be so horrible that he would probably be knocked unconscious and what good was that? Come on, Sasuke! Think! Maybe he could try wriggling his body around and smug the blood by using the ground. It was a long shot, but he had to at least try.

Sasuke shifted his body to his left side and cursed when the bonds on his wrists and ankles tightened. So his capture had thought ahead and placed another jutsu on his bonds to tighten if he struggled with them. Sasuke cursed again and forced his body back into its original position on the ground. That was a bust. What else could he try? He couldn't just wait here like a good little puppy until the Uchihas came back to unseal Kyuubi. Sasuke's blood ran cold. When Kyuubi was released, was going to die? He vaguely remembered Kyuubi once saying that since the seal had been placed on him so young that he was now tied to the demon since Kyuubi had grown on him. No, really; Kyuubi was now a part of him since his body had grown to accommodate the demon inside his body.

Sasuke's eyes widened. He had to get out of here and fast or- A branch cracked to his left. _Looks like I have to get out of here sooner than I thought._ Sasuke then canaled chakra in his wrists and started to struggle again. The bonds tightened again, but not as bad as it was last time. Sasuke glanced to his left again and saw a flash of red eyes. Sharingan eyes. The raven felt his breath shorten and the beating of his heart in his chest reached a point he had never thought it could reach. Sasuke had been scared for his life before, but he had always relied on Kyuubi getting him out of the situation. Now, he was cut off completely from the demon and there was nothing he could do about it.

He felt the Uchiha getting closer with each step and Sasuke frantically tugged at his binds. Sasuke looked up and flinched as a gloved hand reached down towards his body and… broke the chakra binds on his wrists. Sasuke blinked and saw none other than his older brother, Itachi Uchiha bending over him. Itachi reached over and released the remaining bonds on his ankles. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and jumped away. He used his left hand to smug the blood diagram on his stomach and reached for a kunai with his right. He brought the kunai up and got himself ready for a fight. However, Sasuke tensed up when he heard a voice behind him.

"Man, that sure was to close for comfort. Right, Itachi?" Sasuke spun around and saw a flash of yellow hair. He thought for a second that it was Naruto who had spoken behind him, but Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw it was actually the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. The older blond bent down, "Are you alright, Sasuke?"

"Wha-What's going on?" Sasuke whispered out and saw that Itachi had joined Minato at his right. He was so confused. Kyuubi had said that the Uchiha were the ones who had kidnapped him; so, why was Itachi working for the Fourth Hokage? And why had he released his bonds? Was the whole Konoha village behind this, not just the Uchiha?

Minato let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head. The Fourth Hokage was acting so much like Naruto that Sasuke had to repress a groan at the sight. "Well, that's kind of an s-class secret, Sasuke. I can't just tell it to a child like you." Sasuke felt his left eye twitch.

Itachi turned towards his superior. "He already knows about the Kyuubi. He's been talking to him; probably for many years."

The older blond stopped the scratching and peered at Sasuke. The seriousness of being many years as a Hokage traveled over his body. Had Sasuke broken the seal on his own? Or had he merely weakened it? This wasn't good; Sarutobi had given up his life to save the village from the Kyuubi. Now, the villagers may have been right about Sasuke turning into the Kyuubi.

"Relax," Itachi muttered, "As you can see Sasuke has already awakened his Sharingan. When you awaken the Sharingan your senses are increased and thus it must have enabled Sasuke to communicate with the tailed beast."

"Oh," Minato blinked and the tense atmosphere disappeared. He didn't know much about the Sharingan, but if Itachi wasn't worried, why should he be? "Well, than it looks like I can tell you what happened tonight, Sasuke." Minato's eyes darkened in sadness, "You might want to sit down; it's going to be a long story."

Sasuke complied only after some reassuring from Kyuubi. He nodded and motioned for the Fourth Hokage to start. Minato sat down on the ground and let out a small sigh. Itachi remained standing and continued to look around to make sure there weren't any Uchiha stragglers to interrupt them.

"Let me start at the beginning," Minato said. The older blonde's eyes darkened and there was a slight pause before Minato composed himself again. This was going to be harder than he thought. How was he supposed to tell a child about how he had ordered an entire clan to be killed? However, Minato couldn't help but notice that Sasuke's coal black eyes held more intelligence and maturity than most adults did. "You see, Sasuke, rumors had been going around about the Uchiha planning on taking over the village."

Sasuke's eyes widened for a second before quickly narrowing them. The Uchiha had been planning to take over Konoha; why would they want to do that? Not to mention, what did he have to do with anything?

"Itachi," Minato pointed to the silence raven hovering over him, "was a part of my elite ANBU squad and I would have trusted him with my life. He was the one to come to me saying that the rumors were indeed true and the Uchiha planned to take over the village." There was a pregnant paused to allow Sasuke to sink in the new knowledge. Minato sighed and continued, "We didn't know what they were planning exactly and we had no proof to arrest them. So we had no choice but to wait for them to mess up or start their plans."

"And that's where I came in," Sasuke muttered out.

"And that's where you came in," Minato agreed. "They needed something powerful to back them up. The Uchiha couldn't just take on one of the most powerful villages in the entire Five Great Nations. They needed a weapon; they needed the Kyuubi." The tension was rising again, but this time it was one that wouldn't cause any bloodshed in the clearing.

"So what did you do to stop them?" Sasuke asked; eager to know what had happened when he was knocked unconscious in the clearing.

"Hold your horses, Sasuke. I was getting to that." Minato let out a small laugh. _Sasuke may have aged beyond his years, but he's still just a child, _Minato mused. "We needed to stop the Uchiha before a war broke out so I ordered the complete murder of each Uchiha member once we had learned of their movements to take over." Minato heard Itachi clear his throat and he let out another nervous laugh, "Besides Itachi and you, of course."

"Of course," Itachi muttered out.

Despite himself Sasuke allowed his eyes to stay widened and his jaw to drop down slightly. Had the Fourth Hokage really ordered the entire Uchiha clan to be killed? He looked the older blond over and decided that he had indeed done as he was saying. However, Sasuke could still sense the despair that the Hokage was feeling about murdering so many people, but it had to be done; this even Sasuke could see.

"So, what now?" Sasuke felt lost; he had no idea what to do now, his whole head was completely white. This day had been the most hectic day of his life; Itachi asked to train him, he had decided to take Naruto up on his offer of friendship and he had been kidnapped by his former clan. Then, he had found out that the same clan had wanted to unseal Kyuubi and take over Konoha. Two people had found out that he was indeed hiding about being a weak shinobi and now all he wanted to do now was go home and curl up in his dark blue bed comforter.

Sasuke had thought that the Fourth Hokage would be the one to answer his question, but was surprised when Itachi spoke up instead. "Would you like to come live with me, Sasuke?"

The younger raven's eyes widened for the umpteenth time that day and Sasuke, very hesitantly, nodded towards his older brother. "I would very much like that."

And for the first time in his life Sasuke felt happy and even Itachi's emotionless face allowed for a small smirk.

**And chapter 2 is done! Whoot! I stand corrected ****this ****was the longest chapter I have ever written. XD Now, I had to somehow do the Uchiha Massacre in this fic and this is how I decided to go about it. Hope it didn't let any of you down. ^^**

**P.S. I still need a beta reader if anyone is interested!**

**Read and Review Please! It's what encourages me to write!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. If I did own Naruto (That would be awesome!) Naruto and Sasuke would have gotten together long ago and Itachi would have never died!**

"Itachi! Give me back my tomatoes!"

"You'll get them back when you start getting ready for the Academy," the older raven's voice droned as he kept his younger brother at bay.

"I lasted just fine without you until I was eight years old! So, stop being such a mother hen!"

It had been three whole years since Itachi had asked him to move in with him and Sasuke, for the first time in his life, felt like he belonged somewhere. He was now eleven years old and had just graduated from the Academy yesterday. His brand new, unscratched headband gleamed on the table top, but Sasuke was far too busy trying to steal back his tomatoes to notice.

Despite living with his older brother, Sasuke had kept up his act with the other villagers and shinobi. Itachi had requested (begged) Sasuke to lose the act, but something like that, something that had ruled most of his life, is harder to break than Itachi thought.

Since the night of the kidnapping, Sasuke's life had turned more peaceful and, dare he say it, happy. Everything seemed perfect to him. "Give me back my damn tomatoes, Itachi!" Well, almost perfect.

*The Choices We Make*

Today was the day. Naruto flashed himself his signature smile through the mirror. Today was the day that he joined the shinobi ranks and got put on a four-man squad. He was excited, maybe too excited, but none of that mattered to Naruto Namikaze!

Naruto grabbed his gleaming headband from its spot on the sink countertop and fastened it to his forehead. He struck a pose in the mirror and then headed downstairs for some ramen. Naruto listened to the silence in his house as he waited for his beef ramen to heat up. His father was mostly away with Hokage business and his mother had died during child birth.

His blue eyes darkened slightly at the thought of his dead mother. His dad had always told him it wasn't his fault that his mom had died, but Naruto couldn't help but feel small guilt and sadness every time he thought about her.

Naruto's timer dinged, signaling that his ramen was ready and was pulled out of his depressing thoughts. He shook his head; he shouldn't be thinking such awful things on one of the best days of his life! He broke apart his chopsticks and dug into the ready-made food. While Naruto was slurping up his noodles, his mind wandered to the Academy. Would he be in the same team as Kiba? Or Sakura? Or Ino? He had hoped that his father would have been kind enough to place him on a team with, at least, someone he knew.

_I wonder what Sasuke would do if we were on the same team? _Naruto wondered. Two days after asking the Uchiha about forming a friendship, he had sensed that Sasuke wanted to talk with him, but never did. I mean, if he would actually talk to him he could introduce Sasuke to Kiba, Sakura and Ino. His father, for some reason, asked him how Sasuke was doing at the Academy. How weird was that? His own father would want to know about a classmate before even asking about how his own son was. Naruto knew that his dad had a lot on his plate and Sasuke was currently living with his older brother who was barely reaching his twenties, but still! You should ask how your own son is doing first after not seeing him for a whole day!

Speaking of his father, last night, after getting home late doing paper work, Naruto had snuck a peak at the scores of all his classmates had gotten on the exam. Naruto, of course, had scored the highest. Although it wasn't surprising, Naruto couldn't help but feel a small pang of sadness when he noticed that Sasuke had gotten the very lowest score on the sheet. _At least he passed_, Naruto mused.

He finished up his beef ramen and Naruto pat his stomach in content. He checked the time on the small frog clock on the stove and grinned. It was time to get going to the Academy.

*The Choices We Make*

Sasuke had been early; way too early. Itachi had kicked him out of the house an hour and a half before the actual start of class. Graduates were allowed an extra hour in the morning before the other students and then started the ceremony that happened for each graduating class. Apparently, Itachi had forgotten this fact from his own Academy days and left Sasuke with his current predicament.

He sighed and made his way over to the small courtyard at the side of the Academy. This courtyard was barely used and Sasuke had come here often to be alone when he was in the Academy. Sasuke then walked over to a small cement bench resting underneath a large sakura tree and sat down. The tree wasn't in bloom, but looked about ready to burst with small tan buds. A slight breeze pushed his bangs in front of his face and made the leaves of the trees sway and rustle.

Sasuke closed his eyes and relaxed in his seat on the bench. Maybe it wasn't so bad that he had come so early; now he could relax and think over his time in the Academy. A flash of a small yellow bird taking flight over head drew Sasuke to think about a certain blond classmate. Sasuke knew he had promised Kyuubi to form a friendship with Naruto, but every time he tried to talk to the blond he was surrounded by his little groupies. He had promised to be friends with Naruto, not his little admirers; there was no way he would talk to idiotic Kiba and fangirls Sakura and Ino. Not to mention most of the time the girls gave him splitting headaches with their constant screaming and fighting over Naruto. Fangirls, Sasuke shivered, were the only species known to man to kill you with affection.

His last three years of the Academy weren't as bad as his first two. Itachi had kept his promise of training him and now he had more knowledge about the Sharingan than he had previous believed was even possible. Did you know that it was possible to create a giant warrior named Susano'o that would protect and even attack for you? Or that you could even make a dimensional hole in midair? Sasuke had first thought Itachi was pulling his leg until the older raven actually brought forth Susano'o. Now _that_ had been hard to explain to the ANBU watching them.

The reason for the ANBU was quite simple really. The Fourth Hokage would allow Itachi and him to live together… with some conditions. Since two of the most skilled shinobi in Konoha were going to live together, one the Kyuubi's jinjuriki and the other an ANBU captain, Minato had requested (ordered) at least one ANBU to watch each one of them. Even now Sasuke could feel his ANBU protector, rabbit, watching him from the sakura tree above him.

Other than learning about the Sharingan, Itachi had taught him genjutsu since Kyuubi wasn't very fond of the technique. Sasuke had become so efficient using genjutsu that sometimes he played little practical jokes on his brother. Like, the other day, Sasuke had made Itachi think that strawberry jelly was really his shampoo. That hadn't gone well with Itachi, but at least it made Itachi do one his rare smirks. Not only that, but his older brother had finally gotten him to learn the fire ball jutsu. Apparently Kyuubi had given him an extra hand sign for the jutsu and, after very much yelling between Kyuubi and him, Sasuke had learned and mastered the jutsu.

"Awww man!" Sasuke reopened his eyes and saw Naruto walking down the opposite side of the courtyard towards him. His eyes widened; maybe this was finally his chance to talk to Naruto. "I completely forgot we had an extra hour before the ceremony!" Naruto complained loudly through the clearing.

The blond had almost pasted Sasuke by now and hadn't even noticed the raven sitting literally two feet from him. Sasuke felt his eye twitch and calmed down his annoyance before speaking out to get the blonde's attention. "Dope."

Naruto stopped in mid-step and quickly turned around to face the raven. "Sasuke-teme! I didn't even notice you were here!" _Obviously_, Sasuke thought. "Why are you here so early?"

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his temples as he felt another headache coming on from Naruto's loud yelling. "Itachi kicked me out of the house."

A foxy grin found its way onto Naruto's face. "So the great Itachi forgot about the hour late start today, huh?" Sasuke glared at the blond. It was so like Naruto to make fun of other people when he did the exact same thing himself.

"Apparently the great Naruto Namikaze did the same thing." The blonde's blue eyes widened slightly and Naruto's foxy grin disappeared and a sheepish one replaced it. Naruto was such a dope. Why had he wanted to become friends with him again? Oh, yeah… Kyuubi said he _needed_ a friend. Damn fox needed to mind his own business.

"Yeah," he looked away and fixed his blue eyes on the budding sakura trees. "I guess you're right." They fell into silence and Naruto leaned back against the bench. He would never admit it, but sitting like this, with Sasuke, was oddly… nice. He was usually in the middle of constant noise; whether it be the big-mouthed Kiba or having Sakura and Ino all over him. He never got a moment of silence. He enjoyed how Sasuke and him could sit with each other in complete silence and having it not be awkward in the slightest.

Sasuke was so much different than any person he had ever met. He didn't fawn over him like everyone else. Sasuke treated him as an equal. He didn't see him as Naruto Namikaze, the son of the Hokage. Sasuke saw him as Naruto. Just Naruto and no one else. This was what Naruto admired about the Uchiha the most.

One thing that Naruto didn't get though was that Sasuke had such an air of superiorly around him. The raven had the lowest score on the exam and, yet, it felt like he held himself above everyone else around him. Naruto may admire some attributes about the Uchiha, but Sasuke was just plain confusing… and mysterious.

Mysterious… That was a good word to describe Sasuke Uchiha. There were other words to describe him; smart, antisocial and… a bastard. However, mysterious would always be the one word that would stick to Sasuke in Naruto's mind.

May it be that Sasuke was mysterious or quiet; something drew Naruto to Sasuke like a moth to a flame. Naruto couldn't describe it even if he could. There was something about the Uchiha that had Naruto drawn to him. He didn't know if this feeling was a good or bad thing, but it wasn't a bad feeling. No, it was like a small warmth inside his chest that grew the more he talked and was with Sasuke.

"What are you looking at, dope?" Sasuke's deeper voice asked, cutting Naruto out of his deep thinking.

"Nothing!" The blond squeaked. He quickly turned away so he could hide the deep red blush traveling across his face. Had he been staring at Sasuke?

Sasuke huffed and let the whole staring thing go. Naruto's staring had been quite obvious and it had gotten pretty annoying after about ten minutes of it. Not to mention the dope had this weird look on his face the entire time and Sasuke wouldn't have been able to describe it even if he could. Naruto… was Naruto. There really wasn't any way to describe the blond. He was Naruto Namikaze; end of story.

Sasuke felt a chakra signature on the other side of the courtyard and small squeal came from said person. He felt the newcomer jump into the overhead tree and smirked when the hidden ANBU was forced to move into another tree. Sasuke glanced over at Naruto and held in a groan when he saw the blond in deep thought once again. Well, it would be the dope's fault if he got attacked by the hidden newcomer.

_Three… Two… One… _"Naruto-kun!" _Right on cue,_ Sasuke mused. A sudden flash of pink and red glomped Naruto from above. Sasuke growled when he is pushed off his seat on the bench and his back meets the gray pavement.

The raven flinched at the loud, pig-like squeal the pink fangirl lets out once she got her arms around the blond. "Oh Naruto-kun! Us! Meeting like this! It _must _be fate!" Sasuke could practically _see_ the hearts floating around the girl.

"Ah, yeah, Sakura-chan," Naruto said as he unfolded the girl's arm from his body. Sakura turned red at her crush's touch and giggled slightly. She leaned her body against the blonde's and Naruto flinched slightly at the forward actions the pink-haired girl was giving him. So, it looked like Sasuke wasn't the only one who disliked the fangirl actions from his peers.

Sasuke rolled his eyes; how did she even pass the exam? It was obvious that the girl only became a shinobi to be with her 'crush'. You shouldn't even be called a kunoichi of Konoha with _that_ being the reason to become one. You became a ninja to protect your village. You became a ninja to protect your family and friends. You became, well, there were thousands of good reasons to become a ninja. If you became a ninja _just _because your crush is, is _not _a legit reason.

The raven got up from the ground and dusted himself off. He was going to spend as little time as he could with _any_ type of fangirl. His time with Naruto had been short and quiet, but it was the best he was going to get with the blond.

After his clothing was free of dust and dirt, Sasuke turned on his heel and walked back towards the Academy. As he was walking away he heard a shout of protest and a 'wait up, Sasuke!' from a loud, male voice. He didn't even turn to look, he knew it was Naruto. The blond caught up with him in no time and wrapped his arm around Sasuke's shoulders. "Do you want to sit next to me in class?"

Sasuke shrugged off the offending arm and massaged his temples. Couldn't Naruto tone down his voice? Just once? Or was he not capable of such a feat? "Leave me alone, dope. I'm sure Pinky would be overjoyed if you sat next to her." Yeah, that was a good excuse. He wanted as little attention as possible in class and sitting next to the loudest, most annoying and most loved person in the classroom would be the exact opposite of what he wanted. Especially since sitting next to Naruto would mean one less seat for the fangirls and Sasuke, even though he could beat them all in a millisecond, did not want to suffer their wrath.

"Come on, Sasuke! I just want sit next to you!" Naruto whined, but kept his arms at his sides. "Why are you such a teme?!" Naruto's loud voice echoed through the courtyard and Sasuke's eye twitched as he tried not to throttle his annoying classmate.

"Asking why I'm such a teme is like asking why you're such a dope," Sasuke murmured. He picked up his pace, but Naruto was right at his heels. Arguing started in the courtyard behind them and Sasuke guessed that Naruto's other fangirl had arrived. That got rid of angry fangirls… for now. However, Sasuke somehow had to get his blond stalker off him or else he would have the fangirls on him in the classroom.

In the end, Naruto was grinning happily in the seat next to Sasuke in the classroom. So far no one had given the raven any trouble with the seating arrangements, but he knew it was only a matter of time with the stink eyes he was receiving.

Ten minutes before the start of class the bomb went off. "Ha! I beat you, forehead girl!"

"Dream on, Ino-pig. Everyone here saw my foot, at least, half an inch ahead of you." Sasuke inwardly groaned, Naruto's two biggest fangirls had finally made it into the classroom. A loud gasp echoed through the room and Sasuke is jerked out of his seat by Sakura. "Move it!" She sneered.

Sasuke allowed his butt to hit the ground and he stayed where he landed as all the other girls rushed over to their crush. Apparently, as soon as Sakura made her move, this gave the rest of the girls courage to move forward as well. Naruto was immediately surrounded by the girls as they argued with each other on who would sit next to the blond.

"Need a hand?" Sasuke turned his head and found… Naruto.

He smirked, "Shadow clone, huh?" He should have known that Naruto would use his signature Shadow Clone Jutsu. The blond reached out his hand for Sasuke to take and he pulled the raven back to his feet. At least, that was the intention.

Instead, halfway through pulling Sasuke up one of the fangirls was pushed back by another fangirl and she was knocked back into Naruto. This caused the blond to be pushed forward and into Sasuke. They tumbled forward and once they hit the floor Naruto was on top of Sasuke and both of them were in lip lock.

It was just their luck that the shadow clone had disappeared in a cloud of white smoke seconds after the bump and the fangirls had seen Naruto and Sasuke fall. Now, the whole room stared in silence at the two lip locked boys. No one moved until Naruto pulled back from the young Uchiha as if mesmerized. That was when all hell broke loose; the fangirls squealed in terror and anger at the sight of their precious Naruto being taken by a monster, the rest of the room just continued to stare and even some of them murmured 'that was so wrong' to each other.

Sasuke seemed to take in the whole situation in a glance and landed a large kick on the blond hovering above him. Naruto, as if in slow motion, shot back and into the horde of girls. The fangirls would have been happy about the turn of events if _their_ kiss hadn't just been taken by the loser of the class.

A heavy, dark aura surrounded the girls and Sasuke, at a loss at what to do besides giving away his secret, looked on in slight terror. _Nothing_ was worse than the wrath of angry fangirls except for the wrath angry mothers, but since he didn't have one, this _was _the worst he could encounter. The girls cracked their knuckles, their eyes started to twinkle with anger and large, unpleasant smiles crept onto their faces and Sasuke knew he would just have to take the pounding like a man.

Well, they would have if Iruka-sensei didn't walk in and shout for everyone to take their seats. The girls murmured a couple complaints, but listened to their sensei's orders. Naruto slid into the seat he was in before and Sakura giggled and sat down next to him. Seeing no other seats open, Sasuke got up from the ground, shrugged and took the outside seat beside Sakura. The pink haired gave him a small stink eye before completely ignoring his existence. To Sasuke, this was better than what he hoped for after taking the seat beside her.

Everyone in the classroom gave their sensei their full attention; each one of them eager for the brown haired male to let them leave and start their new lives as full-fledged shinobi. Iruka cleared his throat and looked down at his famous clipboard. "All right, attention everyone," he said even though he already had everyone's full attention. "I would like to congratulate all of you on passing the exam, but you are only genin. So, I will now group each of you into three man squads led by a jounin."

_A three man squad, huh?_ Sasuke mused; _I'll pair up with anyone, but just don't let me be with pinkie or her partner in crime. I'll even pair up with the dope just don't let me be with them…_

"I will now list off the teams," Iruka said and skimmed over the names on his clipboard. "Squad one…."

Meanwhile, Naruto kept glancing over at the silent raven two seats from him. So far, he wasn't at all interested in what team he was paired up with. No, he was far too busy thinking about the accidental kiss he and Sasuke had shared. It wasn't so much the kiss he was thinking about, but the feelings he had felt during and after. He feel of the young Uchiha's lips on his own, the warm, bubbling feeling in his chest, and… the _need_ of going further with Sasuke. If they hadn't been in public and if other people weren't watching, Naruto was scared to admit that he _would_ have gone farther. He was so much stronger than the raven and would have done what he wanted even if Sasuke had tried to resist. That scared him more than anything; the animistic desire he was feeling for his classmate, his friend, _another boy_. Naruto felt sick inside.

"Squad seven, Sasuke Uchiha," said raven lifted his head up and listened eagerly to the brown haired male. Finally, the moment of truth. "Sakura Haruno," Sasuke felt or rather heard the scream of anger and disappointment from the girl beside him. However, his own depression started to take over as he learned he would now spend a majority of his time with one of the worst fangirls in history.

From behind Sasuke heard the slight laughter from the blond fangirl and a small 'I knew you would get stuck with that loser, now I'm going to be with my wonderful Naruto and we'll live happily ever after' to Sakura beside him. "And Naruto Namikaze." He then felt pinkie next to him give the blond girl behind her a peace sign and heard a growl from blonde. How unattractive, a girl growling.

Naruto was ecstatic, not only would he have one of his friends on his team, but Sasuke as well! His father had been more than nice to him he had been absolutely god-sent! He looked over to see how the raven had taken the news and saw the slight cloud hovering over his new teammate. Naruto chuckled, Sasuke would get over it soon enough and see how great a team he had just been placed on.

Sasuke, however, wasn't anywhere near as ecstatic as Naruto. He had just been placed on a team with a huge fangirl whose crush was on his other teammate. Naruto was a plain dope with massive amounts of strength that he couldn't even control and he was a jinjuriki, one of the most hated and feared people in the entire Five Great Nations. This was just a recipe for disaster. Sasuke slammed his head down on his desk, he could just see Kakashi the pervert being their new sensei and everything would be complete in causing Sasuke the largest migraine in history.

The rest of the teams were then said and the lunch bell rang right on cue. Before Naruto could ask the raven to eat lunch with him, Sasuke had already jumped out of his seat and bolted out the door. Sakura, of course, then asked her crush and new teammate to eat with her, but Naruto replied with a small 'no thanks' and ran after Sasuke.

Outside of the Academy, Naruto looked around for Sasuke and sighed when he didn't see him anywhere. How could have Sasuke gotten away so fast? He only had a couple seconds head start on him and he should have easily caught up to him, so… why didn't he see Sasuke anywhere?

Sasuke, meanwhile, was watching the frantic blond looking for him from above in a sakura tree. Of course the dope had run after him, he wouldn't have been Naruto if he didn't. Sasuke just couldn't figure the blond out; he had hundreds of friends that would be at his beck and call whenever he wanted it, so why did he always seek his company? Sasuke softly sighed and rubbed his temples; there was no point in trying to figure out the complex mind of a dope.

Once Naruto was a safe distance away from him, Sasuke jumped out the tree he was hiding in. He grabbed his lunch and returned back to the courtyard. Sasuke sat down in the same seat that he sat in when he was with Naruto before pinkie had shown up. He opened up his bento and started eating the tomatoes that he had stolen back from Itachi earlier that day.

Halfway through his meal, Sasuke realized that Kyuubi had been unusually quiet that day. Usually the kitsune would have had a field day with how things had been going so far and his curiosity got the better of him. Sasuke placed his bento on the bench seat next to him and activated his Sharingan and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the foreign chakra in his stomach and let it take over his mind. Kyuubi's red chakra traveled slowly through his body until it reached the desired location on his forehead. Sasuke let the red chakra lull him to sleep and when he next opened his eyes he was standing in front of a large cage containing Kyuubi. Sasuke stood in ankle deep water and he waded through it until he reached the front of the cage.

Sasuke peaked inside the cage and laughed slightly at the large puffball curled up in the middle. Calm, easy breathing reached his ears and Sasuke concluded that the demon was fast asleep. He had never seen the great and fearsome Kyuubi asleep before and it was a great sight to behold. He softly laughed again and released the chakra on his forehead. Sasuke returned back to the courtyard and leaned back in his seat. Now _that_ made this awful day a lot better.

Moments later, Sasuke felt another chakra across the courtyard. He sighed, why didn't Naruto ever give up? Sasuke turned his head and found… Sakura. _You have got to be kidding me. Why is Naruto transformed as Sakura?_ He sweat dropped, of course he could sense it was really Naruto, but at the level he was pretending to be, he wouldn't. However, there were many other ways to tell; like how he was holding himself up and how he walked. A girl did _not_ walk like that.

Naruto walked over to him and sat down next to him on the bench. "Hello, Sasuke-kun." He felt his eye twitch slightly; Sasuke knew it was very low chance that the real Sakura would know his name let alone call him Sasuke-_kun_. "May I sit with you?"

It took everything in his willpower not to pummel his teammate. Fine, Naruto wanted to play he could play along as well. "Sure, but I didn't know you knew my name, Sakura-san. We never did get introduced." Naruto stuttered for a bit and Sasuke inwardly smirked at the squirming boy. Oh, he was going to have _so _much fun with this.

"O-of course I know your name, Sasuke-kun," Naruto stuttered. "We're in the same team now after all." Sasuke could actually _see_ the nervous sweat running down Naruto transformed as Sakura's neck. Luckily for Naruto the end of lunch bell decided to ring. The transformed blond jumped out of his seat and took a step back. "I-I'll meet you in the classroom, Sasuke-kun. I-I have to get to the bathroom before I come."

Sasuke waved Naruto off and the blond ran down the courtyard and to the bathroom. He would let the other go, there was no point in letting his teammate know his real power… yet. Yes, he had planned to tell Naruto his secret after he got approval from the Hokage and when the blond would finally be able to hold his tongue.

Itachi and Minato-sama had gotten him to finally open up a bit. Sasuke trusted his older brother almost as much as he trusted Kyuubi. Besides the playfulness of the Fourth, Sasuke had also started to see the Fourth Hokage in a very different light; like as a father. Sasuke had refused to acknowledge these feelings for quite a while, but he eventually had to confront them as what they really were and accept them. He never had a family before; it was like an awkward comfort. It wasn't a bad feeling; it was like an abnormal soft warmth in his chest.

*The Choices We Make*

Back at the classroom team seven were the last ones there; even Iruka had left long ago saying he had somewhere to be. Sasuke sighed and leaned back in his seat; there was no reason to be excited anymore if their sensei was this late. If their sensei was this late on the first meeting, it was only plausible that he or she would _always_ be late. He glanced over at Sakura and rolled his eyes at the lame flirting the girl was giving Naruto. It was so bad that Naruto didn't even _see_ it was flirting. Of course, this _was_ Naruto he was talking about he won't even know love if it came and bit him on the butt.

"Ahhh! When is our sensei going to get here?! I can't wait any longer!" Naruto whined and slumped himself across his desk. Sasuke shook his head at the impatient blond. How were they supposed to know when their sensei was going to get here?

"I'm sure he's on his way over, Naruto-kun," Sakura encouraged.

However, Naruto got out of his seat and marched over to the chalkboard. What was the dope doing now? Naruto grabbed the eraser and smirked. "If he's going to be late then he needs to be punished," and placed the eraser in between the cracks of the slightly opened door.

"Naruto-kun, are you sure that this is a good idea? He is a jounin and going to be our new sensei after all," Sakura asked the blond and walked up beside him. Sasuke just shook his head at the blonde's antics; why did he have to be stuck with such a dope for a teammate?

"Sorry I'm late, you see an old lady," and the eraser fell. Their new sensei, a silver-haired about twenty year old male, looked down at the object that had hit him on the top of his head. Sasuke groaned, why did Kakashi have to their sensei? Of all the people Minato-sama could have picked, why did it have to be him?

Sakura squealed at the sudden appearance of their sensei and bowed. She apologized over and over for the, in quote, 'inappropriate actions of her teammate.' Naruto rubbed his nose and grinned widely in triumph. "Looks like I got you this time, Kakashi! What until dad hears about this!"

Sasuke groaned again; life was too cruel.

**Sorry about the long wait on this chapter, but I worked on it whenever I had the chance to. :)**

**Please Read and Review Please!**


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